Mike Scioscia says Angels are not waving a white flag

During spring training, General Manager Billy Eppler insisted the Angels were not a “white-flag-waving organization.”

“It sure feels very similar to the DNA of the Yankees,” he said then. “There’s always an opportunity, especially with the extra wild card.”

While the two trades he made Monday to send away Hector Santiago and Joe Smith did not dismantle the team, they definitively did not make winning any more likely. And the 2016 Angels were already on pace to lose 89 games.

Still, Manager Mike Scioscia insisted Tuesday that “there’s absolutely no white flag being run up.”

“Hopefully, the guys coming in are gonna make a footprint here,” Scioscia said. “Some guys now, some guys in the near future.”

For the near future, the Angels acquired one journeyman, Ricky Nolasco, who will replace Santiago in the rotation, and one former top prospect, right-hander Alex Meyer. Scioscia said he watched video of Meyer and talked to “a couple people” who have watched him pitch.

“This pitcher absolutely has as much upside as any pitcher in the game today,” Scioscia said. “Hopefully, he’ll start to realize some of that potential, turn it into performance.”

Nolasco, a Rialto High graduate, will make his Angels debut Thursday against Oakland. The end of his tenure in Minnesota elicited excitement from Twins fans. He drew their wrath when he tweeted two years ago that he wished he was still in Los Angeles, months after signing a four-year, $49-million contract. He also had a 5.44 earned-run average.

“I think I pitched better than what numbers say,” Nolasco said Tuesday. “But it is what it is.”

Nolasco was then asked what went differently than he expected in Minnesota.

“It’s cold,” he said. “That’s one thing, for sure.”

Huston Street is out

The Angels placed closer Huston Street on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday. Scioscia said he had been bothered by an inflamed right knee for at least one week. After his disastrous blown save opportunity Sunday against Boston sunk his ERA to 6.45, he reported feeling more soreness, prompting his second stint of the season.

He earlier missed five weeks because of an oblique strain and rushed his return at May’s end.

“It’s safe to say his command hasn’t been quite what we’ve seen,” Scioscia said. “And this is going back to the beginning of this year. So whether it was this or whatever was happening, he was obviously a little bit out of sync.”

Right-hander Mike Morin was recalled from triple-A Salt Lake as Street underwent an MRI exam Tuesday. The exam showed no structural damage. He received a cortisone injection to combat the inflammation.

In Street’s absence, Scioscia was unwilling to name right-hander Cam Bedrosian the definitive closer, saying instead he would use a committee to fill the role.

“Cam is certainly going to be part of the committee,” Scioscia said. “But there are times when you’re going to want to use Cam in the eighth inning in a certain matchup instead of the ninth.”

Bedrosian has been by far the Angels’ most successful reliever this season. He owns a 0.92 ERA and has not yielded a run in more than two months.

Short hops

The Angels activated infielder Cliff Pennington from the 60-day disabled list. He had missed two months with a hamstring strain. … First baseman C.J. Cron said he took 20 dry swings, no baseball involved, on Tuesday, three weeks from the day he underwent surgery to repair a broken left hand. He expects to hit off a tee Wednesday.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura